Oct 4 2009
Open Thread for Readers for October 2009
Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general? Post away.
Related posts:
Oct 04, 2009 @ 10:23:40
I just finished Maya Banks’ Sweet Seduction, which I liked and loved that Nathan was just a normal guy who loved his woman.
I’m in the middle of reading Beth Kery’s Paradise Rules and liking it so far lots of hot sex for sure.
Also read and fell in love with Karen Marie Moning Fever series I finished the first two, actually I devoured them in three days ran out and got FaeFever but have not started it because I want to wait for DreanFever to either come out in paperback or hound the library for it, which ever comes first.
I’, also wondering if anyone has read Carole Mortimer’s new Historical series first book is The Duke’s Cinderella Bride, read it and loved it, even though I’m not into Historical.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 10:40:11
Just finished reading DON’T TEMPT ME by Loretta Chase.
Brilliant. *happy*
Oct 04, 2009 @ 10:59:16
Just discovered the HeartMate books by Robin D. Owens. Love love love! (Only problem now is laying my hands on a copy of Heart Choice since there’s something wonky about that specific link at BD. *sigh*)
I miss shopping at brick-and-mortar bookstores. The browsing, the unexpected discoveries, the instant gratification of grabbing the loot and reading on the way home…
I *don’t* miss the prices at brick-and-mortar bookstores. I get twice the bang for my buck at BD, so while I’m nostalgic, I’m not going back. (Especially since I’d have to travel three to five hours for a decent selection of romances.)
Oct 04, 2009 @ 12:47:06
I’ve long been a fan of Lisa Kleypas, but when I read a book that *speaks* to me and helps me sort through real life stuff – then the book becomes even better. Such is the case with Tempt me at Twilight. I really loved this book and highly recommend it.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 13:08:39
Soulless by Gail Carriger was awesome! I uncovered the cover to the next book in the series! Changeless looks awesome and I can’t wait for March 30, 2010!
Oct 04, 2009 @ 13:09:46
I hope my first post can be deleted before it becomes REALLY obvious what a slap-brain I am.
Of course it’s Meljean Brook who has Demon Forged out and it is wonderful!
I just finished my 1st Christmas Anthology A CHRISTMAS BALL. It was a no, a no and a oh, very good. So one out of three. The second story was a paranormal. Was I expecting that with the above titled book? No.
J R Wards COVET is the first book in a new series with Angels. Nice take on the Angels Save a Soul story with good characters but the dialogue is only for the most devoted of fans.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 14:14:45
I also read Sweet Seduction by Maya Banks and quite enjoyed it. I was mildly annoyed by a heroine who just couldn’t see how awesome the hero was, but Banks managed to convince me in the end that the heroine appreciated the hero.
I also read Covet, which I’m desperately hoping Dear Author is going to review. I have mixed feelings about it, and am dying to hear what others in the community think of it.
Next up for me is Jo Goodman’s new western, Never Love A Lawman. I love Goodman. She gives good dialogue.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 15:36:21
I just started reading The Hunger Games. I know, I know. I’m about a year behind everyone else. :-)
I also have the latest Dortmunder book to read by Donald Westlake. Although I think that I will wait a while, since this will probably be the last book in the series, given Westlake’s passing.
@missboojkunkie — I’ve read several of Owens’ Heartmate books and have enjoyed them. Heart Duel was my favorite so far.
@joanne and KatiDancy — I was looking at Covet at B&N the other night. It looks interesting, but I haven’t seen any reviews about it or much buzz either. Care to share more info?
Oct 04, 2009 @ 15:52:52
I’ll be copying a comment I made on Keishon’s Buried Treasure post at her blog, because I still think these two ladies can use lots more attention (not to mention I want to read more of their books!).
“Can I plug some buried treasure fantasy authors?
Sherwood Smith is mostly loved for her Crown Duel book, but that’s only one glimpse into the huge world of Sartorias-deles which she has dreamed of and written since she was a teenager. She had quite a few books published in recent years but they haven’t taken off like Crown Duel has (for the people who have read that, did you know that she published a prequel about Vidanric’s youth at Norilana?). I think she’s at least on a par with Tamora Pierce in her ya lines (at Norilana and Samhain) and her insight into military epic fantasy makes the DAW Inda series on a par with the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon and the books of Orson Scott Card. With all the love within the writing community at the moment she doesn’t have any other book under contract.
Visit Amazon’s Sherwood Smith Page
Much less prominent than Sherwood Smith is P.C. Hodgell who had the misfortune to become a darling of the small publishers in the 80s, getting writer’s block and having her small publishers die under her – her Kencyrath books who had a proactive epic fantasy heroine as early as the middle of the 80s are as epic, imaginative and wonderful a fantasy as the world’s thought up by Tolkien or Rowling.
Or had you heard of a female being raised by the dark nemesis of her people and her world as a future bride for him – but in reality being the avatar of the destructive side of the three-faced god of her people (none of which she respects or is really interested in, she’d much rather connect to her only surviving family and survive the chaos she unintentionally leaves behind: stuff like researching the gods of a city which doesn’t belong to her people, managing through deduction and experiment to destruct one of them, being sorry for it and concocting a successful scheme with the only remaining priest of that god to resurrect said god?). By the way, Michelle West’s Demon child in her Sun Sword book series came later.
From this year on you can not only get all of the series so far in ebook (God Stalker Chronicles) at BAEN, but they’ve taken her on as a print author as well, but she needs sales of the new book coming out next year – Bound In Blood (Seeker) – so the series will keep on being released! All the available novels are only $ 25 as ebooks, which is a pretty good deal, I’d say.
Visit Amazon’s P. C. Hodgell Page”
Addendum: Pat Hodgell just got the news that the book she’s currently writing in the series has also sold to BAEN.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 16:42:35
I just read P.C. Cast’s “Time Raiders: The Avenger”
It’s a time travel, mostly set in 60AD and features Boudicca.
Very good book. Features a Goddess and Cast does write Goddesses well. It’s part of a multi author series but stands alone just fine. I haven’t read the others .
It’s a Nocturne October release. Available at eharlequin although I picked mine up at Krogers.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 16:53:27
I just discovered Elizabeth Hoyt. I read “To Beguile a Beast” and am currently reading “To Seduce a Sinner”. I was very happy to discover this author. I am becoming more and more fastidious as time goes by and it has been a while since the last time I had discovered a new-to-me historical romance author.
I also read: Lisa Kleypas’ “Tempt Me At Twilight”. I liked it a lot, to be honest. Read it in one sitting.
If you are a fan of Lynn Viehl’s and followed her Darkyn series, you should take a look at her spin off series (kindred). The first book in that series, “Shadowlight”, just came out.
Anne Gracie is also an autobuy author for me, her latest, “To Catch a Bride”, just came out. Delightful read.
My current read is Kresley Cole’s/Gena Showalter’s “Deep Kiss of Winter”. Am still on Kresley Cole’s story, but I am really enjoying it. I will have to leave it at that as I am to write a review for the book.
I am sad to say that a formerly favorite author or mine, Christine Warren, is no longer an autobuy author for me (rental is likely to be the option I choose). I started reading her latest, “Big Bad Wolf” which is an expanded version of a title originally published by Ellora’s Cave titled “Fur Factor”. Well, suffice it to say that yes, it’s expanded, but the “sanitizing” of it actually did a disservice to the story. I will not be buying her books any longer. I admit I kept buying her books in the hopes that I may change my mind, as I did enjoy her work when she was still an erotic romance author. Not any longer though. The same thing happened to me with MaryJanice Davidson and a couple other authors that I first discovered as erotic romance authors.
Oh as to Robin D. Owens, I LOVE her work. Thankfully her next title in the Heart series comes out soon (November, I believe).
Oct 04, 2009 @ 17:07:38
We will be having a review on Covet this coming week.
Mireya – I paged through the Shadowlight book and the writing looked very…It just wasn’t to the level that I found the Darkyn series to be. In fact, it reminded me of the writing in the Jessica Hall series which wasn’t as polished. Would be interested in hearing more when you are finished.
Anne Gracie is an underrated author. She writes very sweet romances.
I read a couple of Harlequin’s this weekend:
Sarah Mayberry’s Home for the Holidays is pretty gut wrenching. I really enjoyed it.
Helen Brenna’s Next Comes Love was a surprising RS.
Sandra Morton’s Raffaele: Taming His Temptestuous Virgin was Charlotte Lamb like without the acerbic heroine. It’s very HP. Will drive you crazy but it’s classic HP.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 17:19:04
Oh, don’t worry. A review of Covet is coming….
Oct 04, 2009 @ 17:34:15
I was somewhat hesitant about picking up Ilona Andrews’ On the Edge because it looked like (and was jokingly described by Jill Myles as) a redneck paranormal romance, had a secondary character called Cletus who was a slack-jawed zombie, and had young children as important characters.
On the other hand, this was Ilona Andrews, whose Kate Daniels books were among my favourites, and whose novella Silent Blade I greatly enjoyed.
So I took the chance, skimmed it once, read it again, and realized that I should have trusted this storyteller in the first place.
I can’t quite describe exactly what made the book click for me, or why, or how — but I do remember the exact moment my “hmm, I think I like this” became “awww, yeah!”: a charred beast shower scene. What can I say? It tickled my funny bone. :)
Oct 04, 2009 @ 17:42:59
Is On the Edge available as an ebook? I’m interested, but don’t want to buy a paper copy.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 18:07:14
I loved On the Edge too! I think the writer’s referred to it as “rustic fantasy.” The cover was annoying and I think the covers of the Kate Daniel series are too. If I wouldn’t have it recommended I never would have picked them up.
Now I am in a holding pattern waiting for the next in series from all my favorite authors & their series – Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews), Dreamfever (Karen Moning) series, all of the Patricia Brigg’s series, Robin Hobb’s next book, Amanda Quick/Jayne Ann Krentz and Lisa Kleypas (not sure what she’s writing next).
At least it gives me time to explore other authors. I am taking notes on what some of you are reading. Thanks!
Oct 04, 2009 @ 18:29:58
@Jane: Yes, I did have a couple of issues with the book. It did feel a bit disjointed, which had me a bit confused in the beginning, and I also had a couple of issues with the heroine, however, as the story progresses, it gets better. I did give it a good mark, but not the top mark. Overall, I found it a good start, and did enjoy it, but I didn’t think it was the best. I think the series is bound to get better, though, as she weaves further into the world creation, and the recurring subplot.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 19:01:30
@Estara: I am so pleased about the new book. Hodgell is a favorite author since I first picked up Godstalk.
I have several books by Sherwood Smith but have just never had the right moment to sit down and read them. That’s one advantage of ebooks. I never have to stop what I am doing and look for the physical copy when I have an impulse to read it.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 19:42:28
@Kerry D.:
Yes, the ebook is what I bought.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 20:06:18
@hapalochlaena
Thanks for letting me know. Where did you get it, please?
Oct 04, 2009 @ 20:25:49
I’m really looking forward to Tuesday – the next book in Gennita Low’s Virtually series is coming out…Virtually Hers! It’s an ebook from Samhain. Can’t wait!
Oct 04, 2009 @ 20:46:05
@Kerry D.:
From Fictionwise, in secure mobipocket format. I’m not sure why it’s not turning up on author search, but a title search will do the trick. Here’s the direct link.
It’s not yet available from BooksonBoard.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 20:53:42
Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre is a wonderful addition (book # 3) to the Sirantha Jax series.
I just read a YA novel I didn’t like – Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.
I’m looking forward to Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill, On the Edge by Ilona Andrews (great to see that many people who had reservations, like me, loved it) and a bunch of books out at the end of the month like Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler and Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 20:54:48
Oh, how I would love to read Covet. Alas, it is not available on Kindle yet.
Fucking Grrrrr!!!!
Oct 04, 2009 @ 21:16:16
I need to pick up Covet, Frostbitten, and On The Edge. I’m looking foward to Grave Secret.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 21:39:12
@hapalochlaena:
Thank you. I had been looking by author and it didn’t seem to be there. Thanks to a 25% off coupon that expires today, I have now bought it. Goodness knows when I’ll find time to read it!
Oct 04, 2009 @ 21:48:51
@Kerry D.:
Glad to be of help, and I hope you’ll like the book as much as I do. :)
I’ve raised a support ticket at Fictionwise, so we’ll hopefully see a fix within the next few days.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 23:09:56
@KatiDancy: I think you will enjoy Goodman’s Never Love a Lawman. I did!
It was Educator Appreciation week at Borders, so my big TBR pile has become a HUGE one! Lots of books to read in the next few weeks, several of which have already been mentioned.
I’m excited to have both A Lady Of Persuasion by Tessa Dare and Indiscreet by Carolyn Jewel in my greedy hands. Great month for me, as far as historical romance goes. (Can’t wait for Elizabeth Hoyt later in the month as well.)
I just finished Ash by Malinda Lo, a YA book that retells the Cinderella story with a beautiful twist. Just loved that book! It reminded me of Robin McKinley or Patricia McKillip, and there’s no higher praise. The other YA book I’m really intrigued to read is Rampant, by Diana Peterfreund. It’s about unicorns — scary ones, not Lisa Frank or My Little Pony cartoons. The description intrigued me, and I couldn’t resist the gorgeous cover, which you can see here:
http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/books/unicorns/rampant/
Oct 04, 2009 @ 23:18:50
@DS: Yes, isn’t it great? *cheers*
Sherwood Smith is sooo rewarding in all of her books (even the very YA books in the CJ’s Notebook series, although you have to live with a lot of invented words there in the way that children invent words). If you haven’t read any of her books I do think Crown Duel is a great start (and then A Stranger to Command to get the background on Vidanric), but my personal favourite series has been the Inda series so far (same world only 800 years earlier than the Crown Duel & Co. books).
Even her short stories are cool, and I don’t usually read short stories (Fictionwise did a collection which BooksonBoard also offers as an ebook). I think all of her books except the Norilana ones are available at BooksonBoard as ebooks…
Additionally, she has a great community and even more interesting personal webjournal at http://sartorias.livejournal.com .
Oh, and if you want to stay with her version of romance fantasy, there’s the duology Once a Princess and Twice a Prince with Samhain, as well as The Trouble with Kings (as always great female and other characters, and also set on Sartorias-deles) and A Posse of Princesses -set on the same world as the Wren books – also has a lovely but understated romance thread.
Oct 04, 2009 @ 23:57:03
@ estara
I think Im thirding this but yes both PC Hodgell and Sherwood Smith are fantastic writers. I have been a Hodgell fan for YEARS and also follow her blog and got the good news about more Jame books today.
I bounced off Posse but *adore* the Inda books (just recently finished Treasons Shore!) and loved the Duel series as well
The Wren books are really hard to find nowdays but I would love to read those too.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 01:43:57
I haven’t been reading much lately, mainly only a couple of ebooks, but did inhale the Evie Bryne Faust trilogy, not sure on the spelling? I think I am going to have to trust Jane’s reviews more, LOL the last two books were really fun.
Actually this week will be a Samhain week as well.
I am contemplating buying the re-release of Shelly Laurenston’s Hunting Ground. (I have the original) And Shiloh Walker’s Candyhouses is out this week, and there is a Gennita Low and Mandy M Roth there too, I am going to be a happy reader.
My main problem I have been having lately is with Elloras Cave, I am finding the Jasmine Jade site an absolute PIA to navigate, anyone else been having problems with the site?
Oct 05, 2009 @ 02:45:44
I’ve just read Tessa Dare‘s A Lady of Persuation, and I Loved it with a capital L. For me, by far the best of the series! I read it twice on Saturday and came back to to it to re-read some paragraphs on Sunday.
Usually I love most of Lisa Kleypas‘ books, but contrary to others, I didn’t care about Tempt Me At Twilight – I already grumbled about it here in the comments to the review…
On a lot of recommendations, I tried Roxanne St. Claire‘s Hunt Her Down from the Bullet Catchers series. It strengthened my conviction that romantic suspense is just not my cup of tea – too much suspense, too little romance.
Mary Balogh is one of my all-times favourites, I’m looking forward to the new releases of her backlist, the next is A Precious Jewel, in November. I just re-read The Secret Pearl, it remains one of the few of Balogh’s books I can’t bring myself to care about.
Oh, and Anne Gracie is an auto-buy for me too. While I didn’t think To Catch a Bride to be one of her best efforts, it still was a very nice read. My favourite in that series is His Captive Lady.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 05:16:07
I have to add to the approbation for PC Hodgell. These books have been on my bookshelf since the early 1990′s. Have read and enjoyed Ilona Andrews ‘On the Edge’. Their world building is always good and I think the kids are realistic and I liked that they weren’t just colour for the story but part of the resolution and rationale for the decisions made by the h/h. I have just finished ‘Never Love a Lawman’ and loved the relationship and the shared respect between the h/h. The new Sirantha Jax book by Ann Aguirre is a great addition to the series which is getting better and better and it is interesting seeing how Jax is evolving as a character. I also think ‘Hunting Ground’ is a lovely portrayal of the development of Anna and Charles’ relationship with real reflection and thoughtfulness between them.
E-book-wise ‘Gaven’ by JC Owens from Loose ID is a m/m story in an alternative world with a Spartan culture. It is about a young man re-united on a battlefield with his lost father who is a pr*ck and has to find his place in this culture that is alien to him. It is a novella that is about loss and friendship. Denise Rosetti’s 3 books ‘Gift of the Goddess’ (m/m/f), ‘TailSpin’ (m/m/f) & ‘Strongman’ (m/m) pub by EC (and yes Edie, their site is a pain to navigate) have a very back-story overarching arc and some characters are referred to and appear iacross the books but they can be read as stand alone. What is to the foreground is the relationships and the growth and change in the characters along with good world building.
Josh Lanyon has a new novella with pub Liquid Silver ‘Out of the Blue’ a m/m story set in WW1 in a RAF squadron. Fantastic period detail for the setting and the relationships.
I also have to plug any books by Mima, particularly her shifter books ‘AlphaWithin’, ‘HonorWithin’, ‘BeastWithin’, ‘WithinReach’ all pub by Liquid Silver Press. She writes about a world of city states with a shapeshifter culture that lives alongside and interacts. The shifters are the police guards doing shifts in the city states. These are great, sexy and passionate stories with strong women and lovely language and the conflicts are not the usual.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 06:59:48
@Heike M.: It’s funny you mention The Secret Pearl because I reread that one this month too, and for me it quite possibly the only Mary Balogh book I’ve ever cared about or really liked for that matter.
I’ve actually been doing more rereading this month than new stuff.
I read Tempt Me at Twilight but it just didn’t work for me at all. There were parts I liked but on a whole kinda meh, and I really had trouble understanding or caring about the romance. I find it interesting opinions are so split on this book. For my part, I love Kleypas, but her books are much more hit-or-miss for me than they seem to be for other readers.
I keep meaning to read Tessa Dare but I just haven’t found the interest. Maybe I’ll pick up her new one and give it a try.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 08:04:44
@cdouglas: Well, I think we are in the minority concerning The Secret Pearl, most of her other readers seem to love it. I, actually, like all of her other books better – those I’ve read so far, that is. They all ended up on my keeper shelf, but admittedly a very few of them only because the were quite expensive 2nd hand purchases. I like what Tumperkin said about Mary Balogh‘s writing:
tumperkin.blogspot.com/2009/09/somewhat-better-than-run-of-mill-reads
I’d really recommend Dare‘s A Lady of Persuasion, but after having read the other two of the series, I can’t assess it’s stand-alone quality. I suppose it stands alone well enough, you just won’t “know” the secondary characters from the earlier books (I think they do not take too much space in ALoP).
Oct 05, 2009 @ 09:09:38
@BlueRose: I sort of read the Posse book as a fantasy of manners (not exactly as edgy as Kushner’s Swordpoint or Priviledge of the Sword), which works really well for me – and of course I do like the heroine (and the realistic consequences of the fact that the hero’s mother really doesn’t exactly like her). And the interesting other princesses of the various nations and their shenanigans just work for me.
I think I got the Wren books via Amazon Marketplace, Firebird imprint rereleased them in 2004 , so they’re still affordable used.
@Mezza: Those Mima books sound tasty *goes off to research*
Oct 05, 2009 @ 09:11:21
@cdouglas:
oops, I read you wrong, how embarrassing! That comes from peeking in at work…
So I’ve to correct my above comment and say that by now I’ve got the growing premonition to be a one-woman-minority in my opinion of Balogh’s The Secret Pearl. And there I had the delusion of having found a kindred spirit ;-) Perhaps misreading your post was a Freudian slip…
However, I stand by my impression of TSP, as well as by my general opinion of Balogh’s writing (better worded than I could do it in Tumperkin’s blog linked to above).
Oct 05, 2009 @ 09:13:36
http://teachmetonight.blogspot.com/2009/10/realistic-happiness.html @heikem & @cdouglas … Laura V has an interesting perspective on Balogh & how the heroine in First Comes Marriage makes a choice to be happy. Not uncommon in Balogh’s heroines.
I just finished re-reading Black Ice — this is a book that leaves me hanging so I’m glad Stuart shows them in successive Ice books actually living their life. One that’s not on the run.
Picked up an old Regency: The Gold Scent Bottle by Dorothy Mack and it handles a father/son/evvvvvvvil wife/stepmother triangle rather unusually, I thought. Showing the aftermath of a decision made in lust. But I’ve been doing more reading “about” books than reading them … something I want to change this month.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 09:22:57
@Janet W: Thank you for the link! Balogh’s ideas about happiness and interconnection are actually another thing I like about her books (besides the “pure romance” plots and the writing).
BTW, and not completely off topic after reading the post you linked to: A friend of mine indeed stopped watching and reading news, because of the unbalanced focus on bad news. Still impresses me.
Back to the topic of reading: The teachmetonight post Janet W. linked to quoted from Mary Balogh‘s First Comes Marriage, which I liked tremendously but so far didn’t want to re-read, and generally I re-read my keepers a lot.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 10:15:29
@Edie Yeah, I am glad you enjoyed the Bryne books. She certainly improved from book to book, didn’t she? As for the Jasmine Jade site. Yikes, yes, it is hard to navigate.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 10:15:54
@SonomaLass That Ash book looks fantastic. I read the review over at the booksmugglers.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 10:47:31
I just finished reading Christine Well’s WICKED LITTLE GAME. It’s been on my TBR pile since summer and it’s been ages since I read a historical. Yay me for a great pick! I adored the hero, Vane, who knows what he wants (um, the heroine?) yet is willing to suffer endless pain for her good.
I also finally got to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, which I thought was fun and had a few LOL moments. But I soooo wanted more zombies.
Oh, and I scored Patricia Briggs’ first Mercy Thompson graphic novel HOMECOMING. Although normally a good graphic novel just makes me wish it had been a real novel, I thought this was a great story for the format: Good art opportunities and just complex enough, storywise, to fill up the panels. Most excellent.
@Sonomalass You had me on ASH as soon as you mentioned McKillip and McKinley. You read McKinley’s SUNSHINE, yes?
Oct 05, 2009 @ 10:52:13
In other news… I finally got on the Nalini Singh boat with Slave to Sensation. Awesome, fantabulous, wonderful, will-be-rereading-a-lot, keeper, must-get-the-rest-of-her-books-asap, auto-buy! (I knew that would be my reaction –I mean, the recommendations for her are HUGE!– so I bided my time before trying her, clearing some author backlists out of the way first. Now the coast is mostly clear to dive into her world…)
Another who made her way onto my auto-buy list is Jill Shalvis. I really loved Double Play and can see it becoming a comfort read. (Of course I loved Instant Attraction & Instant Gratification also, but they’re Trades… I’m sorry but while I love books, I am trying not to get enamored of authors who are too expensive for me.)
On the YA front I mostly enjoyed Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls books I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You and Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy. I say mostly because while they are well written, imaginative, and lots of fun, the teenage emotions are exhausting! (As are the echoes of my own teenage emotions that sort of rose to the surface…) Seriously. Thank God those years are over! So the books are very effective… and I do recommend them.
As a medicine for the blues/blahs/mean reds/doldrums, go to Dana Marie Bell. Any and all of her books will leave you smiling, but I particularly love the Halle Pumas books (#5 of which is coming out next month, yay!), maybe because while they are short, there are many to love. They’re hot, funny, smart-mouthed and they totally crack me up.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 14:43:00
@Jessica:
Concur, concur, concur! I am very excited for this book to finally be released! Whoo hoo!
On another note, I truly do love Kresley Cole’s books, but they are starting to become a bit formulaic for me. I won’t stop buying them because I love the world she has created and am eager to read more about it. I am interested to read of other folks’ opinions about the latest “duology” with Showalter.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 14:46:38
I just read Carolyn Jewel’s Indiscreet. Loved it, although the ending got a little frustrating – too many coincidences. But I have loved her books since Lord Ruin and The Spare. Good good writing.
I also read Kleypas‘s tempt Me at Twilight. Not a keeper, but I did read it in all one sitting.
After the reviews here, I went on a glom of Jill Shalvis. Overall, very very good stuff.
On a sadder note, I just read on her site that Patricia Briggs won’t be writing and Alpha and Omega book next year. She’s polishing up some old books to reissue, not even urban fantasy.
Sigh. The A and O series is so good I can feel the dopamine receptors in my brain go wild at just the thought of them.
Looking forward to Maya Banks‘ Sweet Seduction, though her books are hit and miss for me.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 15:35:56
@Camilla: glad to hear you liked Indiscreet. I’m halfway through it and really enjoying the richness of the foreign setting and the very distinct and interesting characters. Carolyn’s heroines are always so smart, and I love that!
@cdouglas: I think you could read any of Tessa Dare’s books singly, but I think they are most enjoyable as a series. Mostly because of her heroines, IMO. They are pretty young, and the second and third heroines are each introduced as a character in the previous book, so you get some experience of who she is before she begins to grow and develop in her own book. That’s my take from the first and second books and excerpts of the third, anyway. Of course the hero in the third book also has a lot of growing up to do, and he’s been around since book one!
@Jessa Slade: Yes, I have read and re-read McKinley’s Sunshine. I think Ash is more like Spindle’s End or Deerskin, though, in style. It’s also a lot like Chalice, her most recent book.
@Jane: If you like the style, Ash is amazing. I know a number of people to whom I would not recommend it, though, because they won’t like the slightly formal/stilted storytelling style. (I eat that up, as a long-time fantasy reader.) It’s subtle in some ways and almost blunt in others. My teenage daughter calls it “anti-Twilight” because of the very different kind of love relationship it portrays. I love that.
Oct 05, 2009 @ 16:38:44
So, I liked the first firefighter book by Jo Davis well enough that when I came across the second one in the used bookstore this weekend I shelled out 5 bucks for it. Well, I really wish I hadn’t.
Beware spoilers below.
The concept was interesting enough and I liked the characters until they decided to have unprotected sex, cause she’s on the pill and he has never done the deed… yeah, you know where that is going.
Now, it’s labeled romantic suspense, but I had the impression this was supposed to be the hotter (erotic romance) variety, so the heroine having to pop out a lil’un (and I had a much less complimentary term here before) at the end of the book really annoyed the hell out of me. Especially since the h/h have known each other for a handful of weeks at most by the end of the book, it’s the first relationship for the guy and most of the time they were busy trying not to get killed.
And let’s not talk about the idiocy of staying in the house in which not one, but *two* assassination attempts have happened, instead of finding a nice hotel somewhere… these characters ended up too darn stupid to live by the end of the book.
I’m still curious about some of the other characters, but since RS really ain’t my cup of tea… I read the first one as e-book, so I didn’t see the RS label and didn’t even think to check this one for it.
Oh well, guess we file this under failed experiments.
Oct 06, 2009 @ 05:13:21
@Heike M.: Even though TSP is still the only Balogh book in my keepers, I’m still always willing to give her a try mostly on the strength of my love for that book. But I totally respect your opinion on it, and I’m sorry you have not found a kindred spirit in me!
@Heike M.: & @SonomaLass: Thanks for the advice about Dare’s books. I knew they were connected somehow, but I didn’t quite realize the extent. It sounds like I’d appreciate them more as a series.
Reading this thread has reminded of books coming out that I had totally forgotten about–like Carolyn Jewel’s new one. I can’t belive I forgot that was an Oct release.
Oct 06, 2009 @ 08:52:15
I’m currently 3/4 way through reading Rob Thurman’s “Trick of the Light” and I just can’t get into it. The main character is nothing new, and the relationships seem forced. I keep putting it down to go and do other things which is never a good sign for a book with me.
Overall it’s a “Meh”.
Anyone else feeling the same way ?
Oct 06, 2009 @ 10:55:52
Just finished The Heiress in his bed by Tamara Lejeune, i really really enjoyed it.
The title is a bit…but the story is great.
Oct 06, 2009 @ 12:21:20
@Debra Date: I had a similar reaction to Trick of the Light. I kept trying to get into it but I was never able to make it past the first three chapters. I put it down with the idea of coming back to it in a month or two. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood for a book for whatever reason.
Oct 06, 2009 @ 22:06:48
@Camilla:
Cool. They’re going to republish Masques and publish a sequel called Wolfsbane. That’s great. I was afraid she’d never get around to it.
If you haven’t tried them, her fantasy novels are just as good as her urban fantasy, IMO. Honestly, I’d rather she take a break than burn out. I’ve been worried about that since she started releasing so frequently. Writing to order doesn’t work for everybody, and she’s an author I’d particularly hate to lose.
Oct 08, 2009 @ 23:15:45
I just finished reading Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s new Liaden novel Fledgling and highly recommend it. It came out in early September, but I didn’t get my signed copy until day before yesterday.
I read this when they put it out in 2007 as a weekly serialization and decided that format really wasn’t doing it for me and also found the story very unsatisfying when the authors declared a draft. All the dangling threads unresolved, etc. While I understood logically that it was only a first draft, emotionally I was not having a good time with this story.
The finished book, however, is great. Everything solved, connected, makes sense and the ending comes at a satisfying point in the story, which should please those who have an issue with Lee/Miller cliffhangers.
Go out and buy it! It’s most definitely worth it. :)
Saltation, the sequel that follows Theo’s further adventures and to the ‘complicated problem’ she’s laying before the Delm of Korval at the end of I Dare, will be out in April of 2010.
And in further great news, the authors just shared that they have a contract for the sequel to it and ‘I Dare’ to be released sometime in 2011 (exact date unknown and subject to change). And in between there’s ‘Mouse and Dragon’ next summer, which is a ‘midquel’ and deals with Daav and Aelliana after ‘Scout’s Progress’. A positive bonanza of Liaden books out there in the next few years and I’m really tickled about that!
Oct 09, 2009 @ 01:12:16
Has anyone read An Echo in the Bone, the newest in Gabaldon’s Outlander saga yet?
Because…..ARGH!!!……I need to vent.
I hope one of the Dear Author reviewers covers this one….
Oct 23, 2009 @ 16:19:42
Has anyone read Sins of the Flesh Caridad Piñeiro? Saw it at Walmart today. Looks interesting but I’ve never read her.
Oct 27, 2009 @ 07:32:10
If anyone’s interested Shortcovers.com has a 25% discount that ends today. The Discount Code is: holiday and the Offer expires October 27. They have Charlaine Harris’ Grave Secret in epub for $10.49, add the discount and it’s $7.87. So, yay for me. :D
I have absolutely no affiliation with shortcovers.com. I was shopping around for Grave Secret, and ended up at their website.